Whew! That's a lot of Esches! If there was a Cindy-Loo-Who-Esch, we're sure that she would have kicked in her twenty-three hundred bucks as well. Oh, and 12 of those 16 max Esch donations came on April 22nd. Hmm...

So it's nice that Jim has his own family Esch-PAC. And we're sure they're getting ready to pony up another $2,300 each for the general.That'll teach Richard Carter and his drug tests to challenge the Family.

***

As many of you know, Lee Terry has been running radio issue ads for some time -- the "Lee Terry Minute". All of these have now been put up on Terry's campaign website.

Here's the latest for you to listen to (we've turned it into a YouTube video, because audio's kind of a hassle):

An interesting angle on this. He's taken to spelling out the politics of the Democrat bill which has bipartisan support. We like the fact that it's something different, campaign ad-wise.

They've broken it down by each candidate, on each issue -- Iraq, abortion, the economy, etc. You can watch the 30 second individual clip to see what Pat Flynn, Mike Johanns, Scott Kleeb and Tony Raimondo have to say.

Be sure to check out the rambling answer that Kleeb gives (again) on abortion. You can then see where the off-camera interviewer tries to nail down Kleeb to get him to admit that he is pro-choice, and Kleeb gets a little testy. Heaven forbid he answer the question...

Nothing like making a dreary day even moreso than listening to a compilation of "Lee Terry Minutes". The only good thing one can say is that they sparkle next to anything Johanns says. I wonder what it is about Nebraska that we get such boring, lightweights as potential leaders?

So that makes one out of how many FEC reports that Esch has filed on time? With all the Esch PAC money, Lee Terry still outraised him for the month of April. A question: if you have $111,511.52 in debt and $87,435.46 in cash on hand, doesn’t that mean you are still $24,000 in the hole and broke going into the primary?

Here is what the Terry campaign had to say.

The Terry for Congress campaign has raised $97,275 in April and enters the May 13 primary with $553,146 in the bank.

The campaign has filed a report with the Federal Election Commission showing that it raised $61,375 during the "pre-primary" period covering April 1-23 and ended that period with $517,245 in cash on hand.

Since then, Terry's campaign has filed "48 Hour" reports with the FEC showing additional receipts of $35,900. The total raised for the month of April is $97,275 with an estimated cash on hand at the close of business yesterday of $553,145.

"Our campaign continues to build momentum," said David Boomer, Terry's campaign manager. "Congressman Terry continues to do a tremendous job in representing the people of the 2nd district, and he looks forward to the upcoming campaign."

Oh man. Looks like our choice in the second district is either going to be Esch or Terry again?? Talk about trying to pick the lesser of two evils! Maybe I'll just write-in Hal Daub's name. Anyone with me?

A little research (it took me less than 5 minutes on Google) will help you all not look like a bunch of idiots in the future.

The House Resolution (HR) that the Congressman is explaining to his Constituents in the "Congressional Minute" is HR 4088-The SAVE Act which deals with immigration reform by strengthening our existing illegal immigration laws-which according to what I read in the paper is what most of America wants!

Now that we have that cleared up, there is also a SAFE Act and a SAVE Act floating around Washington. However, neither of them in the House, but rather in the Senate (remember the concept of a 2 house system of Government?). The SAFE Act introduced by Sen. Larry Craig and Sen. Dick Durbin (how is that for the beginning of naughty joke!) is the Security And Freedom Insured Act. That Act deals with the believed evilness of the Patriot Act. The other SAVE Act, the one in the Senate, was introduced by Sen. Kit Bond and is known as the Security Against Foreclosure and Education Act. Addressing, as you might conclude from its name, the American Dream of homeownership and a College Education (both dreams that it does not appear any of the Esches will be having a problem achieving unless they all give Little Jimmy their trust funds to run for Congress).

Now that we have all had our Civics lesson for the morning, can we get back to the discussion of, "Where did the Esches get all that loot?" inquiring minds want to know.

And thanks for the tip about the internet-I am guessing that is where you got all the info about these donations, www.FEC.Gov?

No, it is actually rather rare that a candidate's family, including younger siblings and cousins give money at the MAX OUT level. Actually, it is rather rare that the average donor gives more than $1000 per cycle. Unless they are Party activists and have the money to give. Best anyone can tell, the Esch Family was never active until Jimmy decided to run.

Go to www.fec.gov and click, View/Download Reports and you can view as many or as few of the reports as you wish. I bet Jim Simon didn't even have that many family members max-out to him and his family IS Omaha Steaks for goodness sake!

FYI, you can view all the old candidates report here, too-all the way back to the late '90's. The only one that recently disappeared is Scott Kleeb's reports for the last 3 years from his efforts to try to win District 3. I wonder where all that money that he was raising last year to run against Adrian Smith again went?

I think is what is remarkable is that Carter was left in the Dust by the World-Herald. They could have done foe Lee what they did for Adrian Smith and not endorse a Dem. I think Carter's smear attack probably nudged the paper to teach Carter a lesson and endorse Esch. Another young over-ambitious democrat just became politically irrelevant.

Hate to veer off subject...but has anyone else noticed how the Amendment One commercial with Bruning and Ol' Earmark is so not made in the same studio? A grade schooler could have merged those two clowns together. I am surprised they didn't suffer whiplash.

Don't take it personally. I am sure Jim is just trying to divert attention from the potential FEC investigation into illegal campaign donations and loans.

BTW, where on earth did Jim spend enough time working in one place to have gained a vast knowledge of the Omaha business community? Or is he confusing multiple entries on a resume with a resume full solid work experience? I don't think they are the same thing.

Give me a break, Jim better get ready for another visit to "Shady Acres" because he's gonna need another rest after he actually works again this year. He told the World Herald that he was just physically and mentally drained after the last election so he took some time off to work on some family member's wind farm?

I wonder when the last time Congressman Terry took 4 months off from life?

Grow up Jim, it is now time to work for a living. BTW, congrats on your promotion to "managing partner" in the family real estate partnership. I suppose being born into it is a lot easier than actually earning it. If this "partner" thing doesn't work out, you could always try getting there the "other" old fashioned way.